When it was announced that Universal was making a deal so that it could create a sequel to Matthew Vaughn's Kick-Ass there was a lot of rejoicing among fans, but the news came with a catch: none of the principal actors, including Aaron Johnson, Chloe Moretz and and Christopher Mintz-Plasse, had contracts that would guarantee their return for Kick-Ass 2. Well, we can all breathe a sigh of relief now because apparently Universal knows that making the film would be pointless without the original cast.

According to Deadline, Johnson, Moretz and Mintz-Plasse have all begun negotiating to reprise their roles as Kick-Ass, Hit Girl and Red Mist in the sequel. What's more, apparently Nicolas Cage, who played Hit Girl's father in the original, is also in talks for a cameo. The first film, directed by Matthew Vaughn and based on the comic book series by Mark Millar, was about a young, ordinary teenage boy who one day decides that he wants to become a superhero and fight crime. It was a modest success, pulling in $103 million worldwide on a $28 million budget, but it was expected to perform much better so Lionsgate (who distributed the first movie) put the sequel on ice. Kick-Ass 2 is currently aiming for a start of production date in the fall and Jeff Wadlow has already been hired to direct and write the script. His previous credits include Cry_Wolf and Never Back Down.

This is really good news, but they really are going to have to put this movie into high gear if they want to get it done right. Kick-Ass only came out in 2010, but its lead actors have aged quite considerably since then (particularly Moretz), so if they want to keep the timeline stable then they need to act quick.